[Swords of the Skull-Takers] John Connor gets Terminated

[Gregor Hutton]

Hey, I got a chance to play Joe Prince's Swords of the Skull Takers (v. 0.2) which is in the Ronnies and the Solitaire games challenges.

I liked the feeling I got playing it. It reminded me of the immersion I got from playing Fighting Fantasy and Sorcery! game books back in the day.

I gambled with my Weapon card on Day 4 to get a Major Boon (when quite badly injured) and I got stiffed (I pulled a Page which was the same as the Page card I was gambling). Oh well, that's why we play the games!

Basically I have a Mage: The Ascension Tarot Deck and it just said "Temrinator" to me, when fitted with the Skull Takers idea. I love the Terminator films and I collected the comic too. So tapping into those things and riffing off the area around a friend's home in Thousand Oaks, CA I got playing.

Actual Play (multipage TIFF, ~256 kB)

I probably need to play this a few times trying out the different roles. Leader didn't help me much with the cards that came up and I thought that Fighter would have kept me around longer. I also made a few sub-optimal choices as I found my way through the game (shoulda gambled on my Queen card early).

[Ron Edwards]

Hey Gregor,

When I click on your link, all I get is your first page, with no way to get to the next.

Best, Ron

[Joe J Prince]

Hi Ron, hi Gregor

I think you have to save the link as, then open the picture file. The AP is linked here as well in Gregor's post collective-endeavour.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=190.

If I'm reading the journal right, I believe John Connor should have got the major boon on day 4 - I will discuss things further with Mr Hutton tonight and return!
Maybe with a clearer version of the text...

Cheers
Joe

[Ron Edwards]

Ah! Worked when I saved the link. I love that final page.

So, uh, too deadly?

Gregor, did any Victory cards come up at all?

Best, Ron

[Gregor Hutton]

Good to hear the TIFF worked. I saved it as a Multipage TIFF (shoulda done it as a PDF,but the default on the scanner is TIFF). I have to open in Microsoft Document Imaging to get to the later pages in Windows 7 at work (as the default Paint and Photo Viewer only show page 1).

I didn't get any Victory Cards at all in my game.

I gambled my Page of Swords that I won in Day Four's Daytime and guessed "Lower". I then pulled the Page of Cups! (Which isn't Lower or Higher!) So I didn't get the Major Boon then.

Earlier I should have gambled with my Queen of Coins on Day Two as there is a good chance I could have got a Boon with  a "Lower" guess. I thought I could turn the materials into a barricade but it didn't come to pass. I later realised that a high or low card is good since you can more reliably guess on it, while a middling card should be kept to be "burned".

My Leader skills for John Connor were sidelined because I couldn't find anyone to lead. I had an idea I would go for the 5 of Cups (Survivors) I saw on Day One, but after my Day One adventures I re-read the rules. I figured from my re-reading of the rules that I should have discarded the card I didn't go after, so they were gone. I would have liked them to still be on the table (I alluded to survivors nearby in my diary.)

So a clarification on that would be good.

[Joe J Prince]

I know that JC didn't last too long but I have to say the journal is awesome and just the kind of artefact I was hoping the game would produce!

Gregor should have been drawing against the king of wands on day 4 as that was the last card drawn - so the page of cups would have been a success. Ah well. I have clarified this (and other confusions) in the latest playtest version 0.3 on my site (www.princeofdarknessgames.com). There is also an interlude mechanic, suggested by Gregor, to ease the deadliness a little.

Cheers
Joe